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Robbie Ray 2022 Player Outlook: New Team, Repeat Of Career Year Unlikely
3 years agoSeattle Mariners pitcher Robbie Ray is coming off the most successful season of his career. He owned a 13-7 record along with a 2.84 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a 248:52 K: BB over 193 1/3 innings for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021. The 30-year-old won American League CY Young Award and was rewarded with a five-year deal from the Seattle Mariners during the offseason. He was unhittable towards the end of the summer and struck out 10 or more batters in four straight games from August 20 to September 5, a feat no other Blue Jay starting pitcher has ever done. Ray has always been able to rack up the strikeouts but has always had a hard time keeping the ball in the yard. The move to Seattle's pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park should help alleviate his mistakes; perhaps the marine layer can help suppress his homers allowed. He showed great control last season, but if he regresses to a 4.3 BB:9 as the left-hander had in 2019 (7.84 in 2020), the move to Seattle won't make much of a difference. Ray will be Seattle's ace in 2022; Steamer projections have the southpaw with 191 innings pitched, 31.7K%, 8.9 BB%, 35.8 GB%, 3.67 ERA, and a 3.73 FIP. According to Rotoballer's Expected Draft Values, the new Mariners ace is roughly fair value at his current NFBC ADP of 44.
